Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras have come out with two new albums, and they are both worth adding to your CD collection or iPod playlist.Erich Kunzel's 86th album for Telarc of Ravel's "Boléro" is the Cincinnati Pops' first recording of Ravel's most famous orchestral piece. The disc, loosely wrapped around music of exotic cultures, also includes music from the Broadway show "Kismet" by Borodin, two suites from Bizet's tuneful opera "Carmen," and "Fete-dieu a Seville" from Albeniz's "Iberia."Lovers of beautiful melody will gravitate to this collection, and Telarc succeeds in capturing the sonic splendor of the orchestra in Music Hall.The orchestra, as the Cincinnati Symphony, has recorded "Boléro" two other times, in 2004 with Paavo Järvi and in 1998 with Jesus Lopez-Cobos. Kunzel's version, taken at a brisk clip, is not as sensuous as Järvi's nor as elegant as that of Lopez-Cobos. Ravel's sinuous theme flows along with note-perfect playing but little of the steamy quality that makes this a showstopper.Still, there is something arresting about Kunzel's interpretation of this inspiring music, and ultimately, it works for its sheer intensity. William Platt's snare drum underscores it all masterfully.Alexander Borodin ironically won a Tony for best musical score in a musical - 66 years after his death. Kunzel and the orchestra perform some of the most gorgeous melodies ever written with glowing expression. The medley, adapted by Kunzel, includes themes from Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 - ("And this is My Beloved" and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads"), the Polovtsian Dances ("Stranger in Paradise") and others.In their 14th collaboration for Telarc, a just-released all-Mussorgsky album, Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati Symphony have captured the electrifying performances they gave last season of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition."Järvi has a natural affinity for Russian repertoire, and this "Pictures" is an exhilarating view of the famous stroll through an art gallery. Each "portrait" is strongly characterized, and the Promenades are richly sonorous. "The Old Castle," with its haunting saxophone solo, has an aura of mysticism. "Tuileries" and "The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" are engaging for their humor and lightness.There is the awesome power of "Catacombs," spectacularly played by the Cincinnati brass, and the unforgettable "Hut on Fowl's Legs" - evoking the dreaded "Baba Yaga" of Russian folklore. The closing picture, "The Great Gate of Kiev," with its brass-filled splendor and tolling bells, is the next-best thing to hearing it live in Music Hall.Järvi leads with an ear for subtlety as well as brilliance. The album includes a hair-raising rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov's tone poem evoking a witches' sabbath, "Night on Bald Mountain" (used in Disney's "Fantasia"), and the Prelude to "Khovanshchina," which paints a magical scene of dawn over the Moscow River.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Paavo Järvi is the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s first truly international music director. He currently holds two posts in addition to the CSO, music director of the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra and artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In the fall of 2010, he will add another, becoming music director of the Orchestre de Paris. (Järvi recently extended his CSO contract through the 2010-11 season, with a provision for automatic renewals.) A native Estonian, Järvi, 45, also serves as artistic advisor of the Estonian National Orchestra, with whom he won his and Estonia’s first Grammy in 2003 (for Sibelius Cantatas with the ENO, Estonian National Male Choir and Ellerhein Girls Choir). Järvi records with all of these ensembles and has toured internationally with the CSO, DK and Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. He gives to -- and learns from -- all of them with respect to their individual strengths and musical traditions. With the DK, for example, he is recording a complete cycle of the Beethoven Symphonies, tapping into the Bremen musicians’ German roots and their extraordinary skills as one of the world’s best chamber orchestras. The result is a version that blends lean authentic performance practice with an updated, 21st century “kick.” In Frankfurt, an orchestra with a Bruckner tradition, he would like to perform and record Bruckner (their Bruckner No. 7, recorded in 2006, was released earlier this year). He and the Frankfurt Orchestra have also recorded Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the young French cellist Gautier Capucon, (to be released in early 2009). In Estonia, Järvi is free to perform and record Estonian and Scandinavian music, without the shock of unfamiliarity he is likely to encounter elsewhere (including Cincinnati). Love of music and music-making allied with the Järvi family’s rigorous work ethic are what drive him. His father Neeme, 71, and brother Kristjan, 36 (both conductors) follow the same kinds of paths. Having emigrated from Estonia in 1980 without expectation of ever returning – Estonia and the Baltic countries were occupied by the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991 – they became citizens of the world and followed the muse wherever it led them. All became U.S. citizens, but continue to maintain residences in Europe. Kristjan lives in Vienna, where he is music director of the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra (he also heads the electro-acoustic chamber ensemble Absolute and is artistic advisor of the Basel Chamber Orchestra). Neeme, who is based in New York City, is music director of the Hague Residentie Orchestra in The Netherlands and, until the end of this season, of the New Jersey Symphony. In addition to his apartment in East Walnut Hills, Paavo has a home in London’s Notting Hill district, where his wife, violinist Tatiana Berman and their daughters Lea (4) and Ingrid (2) also spend time when not in Cincinnati. All of the Jarvis speak multiple languages. What -- besides spending many hours in the air jetting from place to place -- does it mean to be an international conductor on such a scale? It means time, or a chronic lack thereof, for family life. “I feel that the family is getting a little less than they should,” said Paavo, in the middle of a working vacation in Estonia last summer. “I need to be with the kids more than for vacation once a year (they had some time off together in the Canary Islands in August). I need to be there every two weeks at least.” Still, Järvi does not believe his situation is that different from many others in today’s world. “I’m not that special, because everyone has gone through that. I mean, you think I’m busy? I know people ten times more busy with much more important issues to solve.” As for his health, “so far, so good,” he said. (He underwent minor surgery in the summer of 2005 to relieve pain in his left arm.) Musically speaking, conducting all over the world has given the Järvis a very broad perspective on music and musicians. Comparing his American and German ensembles, Paavo had this to say: “American orchestras basically play as they are asked to. They can play extremely expressively, but there is a kind of ‘less is more’ thing. It’s something cultural about the society: Do it clearly. Play together. It’s soft enough if it’s piano. It’s loud enough if it’s forte. 'You want to take your time? OK, let me write that down.' "Individual expression is what I miss in American (and English) orchestras. In German orchestras, they will do it, but they will tend to overdo it. They will be like, ‘Nobody knows this.’ Yeah, but you have to make sure it’s together and that it’s right.” Järvi has noticed this attitude among the music critics in both countries. When you read critics, for example, in London, you have often: ‘Oh, he had a tendency to drag. Let’s get on with it.’ It’s very often the same in America. It might register as a bit less 'captivating,' so they say: ‘Well, it’s boring. Get on with it.’ "People often speak of the “Russian temperament,” said Järvi (whose mother was born in Russia).

“It’s not even the Russian temperament so much, because if you look at who runs Russian music even now, there are people from Armenia, Georgia, Caucasus. (Yuri) Temirkanov and (Valery) Gergiev (conductors) are both Ossetian. Khachaturian the great Russian composer was from Armenia. It’s a complicated area, because there are also lots of Jews and other ethnic groups mixed in, and over the years it has become that ‘Russian personality.’ Basically, it’s kind of unpredictable.” A worldwide viewpoint affords a keen appreciation of performance styles and strengths. For instance, there are simply no choirs like those in the Baltics, said Järvi, having most recently worked with the State Choir "Latvija" on Brahms’ “A German Requiem ." He would like for Cincinnati's choruses to be less "top heavy" and have "more low men.”. When it comes to interpreting composers from the former Soviet Union such as Shostakovich, there are two ways of looking at it, said Järvi. Referring to Shostakovich's Chamber Symphony, Op.110a -- required repertoire for students in a master course he taught in Pärnu, Estonia in July -- "it's almost impossible to really relate to it if you are not vaguely or somehow distantly related to somebody who has gone through this." You have to "get into" the history, or at least read about it, he said. "You have to kind of digest it, and how can you digest it if you don't have any contact with it?" Many of the songs and hints of songs in the Chamber Symphony are "old Red Army revolutionary songs which he re-worked into eerie kind of hints, and nobody in the West knows it." A Shostakovich scherzo -- while a scherzo and "it comes from there" -- is used as "sort of a camouflage. Inside, there is this incredibly sarcastic and ironic music. It's sick music, actually." (The Chamber Symphony, composed in 1960, has been called Shostakovich's "musical suicide note.") On the other hand, "it's just that dimension that I can tell when nobody gets it. The tempi are very good and it's played very well, but it lacks the inner expression. It's more merry. Maybe it's very good for Shostakovich to have also non-Russian expression. It makes it more international. There's nothing wrong with that." Being from Estonia, which has been little known in the West because of its absorption by foreign powers over the centuries, the Jarvis have tried to bring Estonian music and musicians to the world’s concert stages. Though no one does it better – and who else but Estonian conductors should be their country's advocates? – it has been difficult, he said.

He hopes to bring Lithuanian cellist David Geringas to Cincinnati to perform Estonian composer Lepo Sumera’s Cello Concerto (a powerful work which they recorded with Sweden’s Malmö Symphony). But he expects reluctance. “’Gering-who? Sumer-what? Yo Yo Ma is better,’ they will say, or 'Alicia Weilerstein is more marketable.’ That’s exactly how it’s going to be, but I want to do it anyway.” (Järvi performed Sumera’s Symphony No. 6 with the CSO in 2002). “The balance between Estonian and other music is going to get better,” he said. “In general, we ought to commission more American music, but we don’t have enough money. I can only commission pieces if I do it in collaboration with another orchestra, like the Jörg Widmann piece (“Antiphon” performed by Järvi and the CSO in March). Having opened the CSO season this month with two very successful programs (one all-Russian with Andre Watts in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the other all-Dvorak with Capucon in the Dvorak Concerto), Järvi goes to Europe for concerts in Frankfurt, Tallinn and Paris in October. He returns to Cincinnati for three concerts with the CSO in November, including Brahms' Requiem with the May Festival Chorus, soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and baritone Matthew Goerne, Stravinsky's "Petruschka" and Holst's "The Planets."

Telarc has had very good luck with Pictures at an Exhibition, starting with its celebrated Maazel/Cleveland recording--a seminal event heralding the digital recording age, and still a prime recommendation. This release exactly duplicates the label's previous, also very fine version from Levi/Atlanta. Paavo Järvi's performances offer little or nothing to criticize and much to praise. He turns up the voltage in the second-half reprise of Night on Bald Mountain's opening material in genuinely exciting fashion. Pictures opens with a warm, legato, and very Russian-sounding "Promenade" and builds steadily. Tuileries and the Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells have lots of charm; Bydlo and Catacombs feature plenty of weight; Baba-Yaga and The Great Gate of Kiev are simply spectacular, with lots of splashy emphasis from tam-tam and bells at the end.The obvious reason for recording this repertoire all over again is to release the music in SACD surround sound, and in this respect I have to say that this disc is a big winner. Rock-solid bass, brilliant but never shrill treble, excellent internal balances, and an incredibly natural multichannel acoustic make this the obvious choice if you want to hear these pieces in surround sound. Happily, the relatively high-level engineering sounds excellent even on less expensive systems, though on high-end equipment you'll have your neighbors begging for mercy (or coming over to wallow in the spectacle). In sum--a very enjoyable production, on both musical and sonic grounds.--David Hurwitz

Saturday, September 20, 2008

A lock of dark hair falling over his eyes, French cellist Gautier Capucon, 27, made his entrance in Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with smooth, broad bowstrokes Friday morning at Music Hall.It was an auspicious moment, the debut of an important new artist with music director Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Capucon won over his listeners in a sublimely musical way, without flash or excess, keeping them deeply engaged from beginning to end..The Concerto was one of three Dvorak works on the program. As Järvi put it in his pre-concert "First Notes" projected above the stage, "if you don’t like Dvorak, you’re out of luck."Fortunately most people do, since the Czech composer is one of the most populsr in the symphonic repertoire.Instead of opening with one of Dvorak’s popular Slavonic Dances or an overture like "Carnival," Järvi chose the Symphonic Variations, Op.78, a work full of beauty and invention that is infrequently heard on concert programs. One reason for that may be its 22-minute length, which when paired with the Cello Concerto and the concluding Symphony No. 8, added up to a rather long concert.The theme of the Variations is a bit unusual: 20 bars divided into seven, six and seven-bar segments using both F-sharp and F-natural. Dvorak borrowed it from a piece he wrote for men's chorus. There are 27 variations and a fugal finale. Järvi shaped it elegantly, with lots of dynamic and tempo nuances. The variations ranged from light and charming with flute and piccolo filigree to heavier and more somber. (Variation 24 somehow reminded this listener of the fourth variation of Brahms’ Variations on a theme of Haydn.) The CSO performed it all with great agility and spirit.Capucon and Järvi, who have recorded the Dvorak Concerto with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra (for January release), were like-minded in their approach to the work. The performance was as much symphonic as soloistic, with delicious interactions between cello and orchestra – the flutes, for instance, in the first movement development, associate principal clarinetist Jonathan Gunn and the woodwinds in the Adagio, including a ruby-colored moment pairing the oboes and the cello toward the end. The finale soared, from the triangle-spattered introduction to the magnificent coda (final section), where Dvorak demonstrated his ability to craft a leave-taking like none other. Concertmaster Timothy Lees, whose urgent solos led into the coda, returned near the end for a breathless duet with Capucon, who eased gently downward into the cello’s last, lingering solo line.Throughout the concert, Capucon demonstrated a calibrated intensity, carved partially with expressive vibrato – or most eloquently sometimes, no vibrato at all -- and carefully shaded dynamics. All told, it was music that sent shivers up and down the spine and brought an enthusiastic ovation from the Music Hall audience.Dvorak’s Eighth has been called his "pastoral" symphony and it does partake of that spirit. Consider the merry flute solo at the outset, performed with exquisite sweetness by principal flutist Randolph Bowman, and the village waltz-like third movement. However, there is gravity, too, as in the light to dark exchanges between the flutes and clarinets and a sudden, stern outburst by the horn near the end of the second movement (delivered with authority by associate principal Thomas Sherwood).The finale began with a bright trumpet fanfare followed by a set of variations. There was a lot of inspired commotion here, broken by the return of the fanfare, a bit of flute "birdsong" atop the CSO cellos and another of Dvorak’s prolonged farewells. This one seemed more in fun than in the Concerto, as the triadic theme augmented itself and repeated over and over until Järvi brought it to a delightful end with the raucous, slapdash conclusion.Repeat is 8 p.m. tonight at Music Hall.

No doubt many in Music Hall for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s concert this morning spent a difficult week without power. Paavo Järvi’s all-Dvorak program, grounded in beautiful Bohemian moods, was a gratifying respite. But there was an added bonus: A bright new cellist named Gautier Capucon.A few in the audience responded to the symphony’s last-minute, two-for-one power outage ticket deal – but more are expected to when the concert repeats today. This was an exciting debut of a 27-year-old artist who possesses the drama, musicianship and assuredness to become a major star.Järvi explained the pros and cons of a program devoted entirely to one composer – the downside being, “if you don’t like Dvorak, you’re out of luck.” But the rich outpouring of Bohemian folk melodies in Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B Minor, Symphony No. 8 and even in the quirky “Symphonic Variations” which opened the program, proved to be irresistible.Capucon, a native of Chambery, France may not be a household name in the United States, but he’s already performed with the Philadelphia and Houston orchestras, is championed by pianist Martha Argerich and has a recording contract with Virgin Classics. (His recording of the Brahms Piano Trios with his violinist brother, Renaud, and Cincinnati native Nicholas Angelich is first rate.)He projected a big, throaty sound in the vibrant folk themes of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto. It was a magical performance. Capucon is an expressive, involved performer, leaning back and closing his eyes during lyrical phrases, and letting his long dark hair fall into his eyes as he hunched over his cello. His playing was poignant but never overly sentimental. He turned often to communicate with soloists in the orchestra. His first-movement duet with flutist Jasmine Choi was sheer poetry.The slow movement, with its soulful melody borrowed from an earlier song, was beautifully shaped, and the cellist allowed its phrases to breathe. He had something imaginative to say in every note of the dance-like finale.The orchestra provided a red-blooded, romantic canvas, and the collaboration was seamless. Principal horn Elizabeth Freimuth’s solo in the first movement was ravishing.The great tunes continued in Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major, a work in pastoral Czech moods, including a waltz movement that recalls Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dances.”Järvi was an energized leader, and the orchestra responded with polished, colorful playing. There was an invigorating freshness about this performance, which had a freedom that made it all sound spontaneous. Järvi emphasized the lyricism as well as Dvorak’s mercurial changes of mood, contrasting heroic horn calls against Czech melodies that were tinged with melancholy. The waltz movement was breathtaking for its lightness, and the finale, a set of variations, was warmly played.The program opened with the rarely played “Symphonic Variations.” The piece built to a full-blown fugue with the full power of the brass, but getting there was a bit rough.The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday in Music Hall. Tickets are two-for-one for those who have had power outages this week. Mention it when you call 513-381-3300 ,http://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

September 16, 2008The 14th Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Telarc recording with Music Director Paavo Jarvi is an all-Mussorgsky disc, to be released September 23, 2008 in CD and SACD formats. The repertoire includes the composer’s colorful Pictures at an Exhibition, the mystical Night on Bald Mountain and closes with the serene Prelude to Khovanshchina. Modest Mussorgsky is one of the best known and most beloved Russian composers.“There is something about the way the line moves in Mussorgsky’s music that reminds you of Russian character and language,” said CSO Music Director Paavo Jarvi. “His music has real depth and color.”The latest Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra release on Telarc features Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Mussorgsky originally composed the work for piano following the untimely death of his friend, artist and designer Victor Hartmann. As part of the grieving process, he visited an exhibition of Hartmann’s artwork and each of the piece’s ten movements represents a different painting. Ravel’s celebrated orchestration of the work premiered in October of 1922.“I have always wanted to record Pictures at Exhibition,” said Mr. Jarvi. “There’s a good reason it has become one of the best known pieces in the world… It’s such an irresistible concept – walking from one painting to another and describing not only what you’re seeing, but the whole promenade experience of walking from frame to frame. This work is full of color.”The CD opens with Mussorgsky’s wildly popular Night on Bald Mountain, as orchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Generations have grown up hearing this thrilling tone poem based on a witches’ sabbath in Walt Disney’s classic cartoon film, Fantasia.“It is unmistakingly Russian… moody and very atmospheric,” said Mr. Jarvi. “Night on Bald Mountain is a fairy tale… Russian composers of the time were drawn to the philosophical fairy tale… to the supernatural…”This all-Mussorgsky CD closes with the Prelude to Khovanshchina (Dawn on the Moscow River), another Mussorgsky work lushly arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov.Telarc’s 13 discs with Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra have garnered critical acclaim, including their January 2008 release of a celebrated all-Prokofiev CD. The 2007 release of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony was praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer as “one of the best available outings with this great symphony.” In May 2006 the CSO’s Bartok and Lutoslawski Concertos for Orchestra debuted on the Billboard classical chart at number 9, and The New York Times said of it, “Mr. Jarvi’s interpretations are everywhere persuasive, and the performances almost uniformly virtuosic. Telarc’s typically expansive sound is especially gratifying…” The September 2005 release, Dvorak: Symphony No. 9/Martinu: Symphony No. 2, was named an “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone Magazine. Music of Ravel also was named a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice” and was awarded a Diapason d’or. -- http://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/

The opening concert at the Beethovenfest in Bonn featured Beethoven's 9th, which at the time was seen as a pointed rejection of Napoleon Bonaparte. The programme also included a Schonberg piece which lashed out at Hitler. Conductor Paavo Jarvi talks about Beethoven, using music to relax, and the difference between US and European orchestras.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

It’s not often that one hears a living legend perform one of the great piano masterpieces of all time.Andre Watts helped open theCincinnati Symphony Orchestra's114th season Friday night in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Watts’ view of Rachmaninoff’s Second was, in a word, symphonic. He was an equal partner with the orchestra, for all its lushness and sweep. Yet this was also a performance of stunning poetry, and Watts illuminated every note.Watts wasn’t the evening’s only star power. Music director Paavo Järvi led the orchestra in its own showpiece in the second half: Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances.”• Top 10 picks for the CSO seasonWatts, 62, has sustained a distinguished career since he was first thrust into the limelight as a 16-year-old prodigy. At the keyboard, he is a master of color and sonority, projecting a clear, singing tone. His playing was electrifying as he charged through fiendishly difficult passages with hands flying – once nearly flying off his piano bench.Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 is known for its outpouring of nonstop beautiful melody. The pianist’s sound was orchestral from the first note. Even though he pulled back when the music became intensely lyrical, he never lost sight of the grandeur of the piece. His phrasing was heartfelt, and he allowed the music to breathe. The collaboration between soloist and orchestra was seamless. Watts often turned to the musicians to communicate, as if playing chamber music, for an extraordinarily intimate effect in the slow movement. He displayed a surge of power in the finale, bouncing on his seat as he muscled through double-octave runs and pushed the tempo to the climactic finish. The crowd was ecstatic.Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances” were written near the end of the composer’s life. The finale is almost a dance of death, and its melodies have a melancholy, Russian flavor.The orchestra was in top form. The first of the three dances was super-charged, and the haunting timbre of the alto saxophone (James Bunte) made a striking contrast. The waltz-inspired second unfolded with great beauty, as Järvi swept up the strings spontaneously. Järvi, a master of detail, called for an energized, sometimes rugged sound, especially in the low strings. He led the finale in big, dramatic gestures. At times, it seemed disconnected, although the players gave it a brilliant reading.Järvi opened on a note of pomp, with Tchaikovsky’s “Festival Coronation” March, last played by the CSO in 1936.The concert repeats at 8 p.m. today in Music Hall. Tickets: 513-381-3300 .For more music news, visitwww.cincinnati.com/classicalmusic .

The Beethoven Festival in Bonn has a history of being misused for political ends. This year, the organisers have confronted its troubled past

If the composer Ludwig van Beethoven had a troubled life, so has the festival founded in his name which has just begun in the city of Bonn. The first Beethovenfest there took place, in 1845, at the same time as the unveiling of his statue beside the cathedral, on what would have been his 75th birthday. Franz Liszt and Queen Victoria were there. The second Beethovenfest was postponed due to war. The Nazis complained that the 1927 centenary of Beethoven's death had been unworthy, not to say a shambles, and turned the event into a tub-thumping Popular Beethoven Festival. Beethoven was the epitome of all that was sternly, creatively German, they thought, and conveniently forgot that Beethoven's grandfather was a Dutchman, hence the "van". In 1944, the principal concert hall, the Beethovenhalle, was destroyed by a stray bomb and not replaced for 15 years. Bonn was not officially a target, but many planes unloaded anywhere.In the 1970s the festival dwindled to a triennial event and in the 1990s the then despondent City of Bonn, shortly to be deprived of its status as federal capital, withdrew its support entirely. In 1999, however, an international festival organisation was established with corporate sponsorship and new, exciting life breathed into the old shell. Against expectations, Bonn has grown in wealth and population since the politicians departed, and the festival has prospered. This year the tenth event has decided to face its troubled past and runs throughout September under the provocative pun "Macht. Musik". Macht is "makes", but it is also "might" of the political variety. It is an apt theme for a festival in a city that was the seat of power in Germany for half a century."It is important for a generation to confront what is usually not spoken about," says Ilona Schmiel, director of the Beethovenfest since 2004. She is breezy and excited when we meet, the day after the opening concert, at her office in the Bauhaus-style building designed as the national parliament, but now headquarters of the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, one of the festival's principal sponsors. The other is Deutsche Post, whose beautiful, curved-glass tower block has dominated this bend in the Rhine since the building was completed in 2003. Confidence and optimism now surround the new Beethovenfest to such an extent that Schmiel's team was able to announce the building of a new Festspielhaus in Bonn in a first-night speech delivered by the culture minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To call the venue a Festspielhaus is a conscious reference to Wagner and Bayreuth, with all its insidious Nazi baggage, as the minister reminded us. The festival touched a taboo. "Yes, it's about the misappropriation of music for political ends," says Schmiel. "But the pun has a third meaning. Music has emotional power over us."The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, under Paavo Järvi, demonstrated this power by generating an opening-night atmosphere on 29 August that pulsed with anticipation. The octaves at the start of Beethoven's "Leonore Overture No 3" were as satisfyingly tuned as the buttons were shiny on the bellboys' jackets. No detail had been left unattended to in the thorough rehearsals Järvi is known for. Familiar music had been smartened up. Unfamiliar music had been programmed. It was daring to include Schoenberg's setting of Byron's "Ode to Napo leon Buonaparte" in its chamber music version for string quartet and speaker. "Is this the man of thousand thrones/Who strew'd our earth with hostile bones?" rasped the speaker, "Nali" Gruber, in the composer's own distorted Viennese English. "Atonal Arnie" wrote it in Los Angeles. His rhythmic dissonance placed Byron's anti-paean firmly in the discordant 20th century. Adolf Hitler was the new Napoleon, amplified and worsened for the machine age.The concert closed with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony,whose choral finale is the anthem of the European Union. It was an unusually ecstatic performance of punched themes, a euphorically light scherzo and a Turkish march of deflationary bathos. The Deutscher Kammerchor sang with passionate volume. "Alle Menschen werden Brü der," they declared with fortissimo certainty - "all people will be brothers". Down at the riverside, the memorial to a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis alludes to this line. Let the people remember, it says, that they are alle Menschen.Evidence that people forget is on display at the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik (Museum of the History of the German Federal Republic). A snatch of film shows a hysterical crowd at a Nazi rally bellowing with bloodlust, "Ja!" to Goebbels's chilling demand, "Do you want total war?" By stark contrast, a recording of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer opening the new parliament after the war promises an end to nationalism and a commitment to European unity.One understands why Bonn was the politicians' choice for Germany's new capital. The city is small, modest, peaceful and well-behaved. There is no nightlife to speak of. The university dominates the town centre and the cafes in the pedestrian zone are full of students who cycle everywhere. War damage was minimal. A bomb demolished the concert hall and another struck the Schumannhaus, the former lunatic asylum where the composer Schumann ended up after throwing himself into the Rhine. The rebuilt house is a charming festival venue. Only the Beethovenhaus itself, containing the composer's pianos, portraits, life and death masks, and ear trumpets, has more emotional resonance.The second night featured the 20-year-old pop band Die Prinzen, originally from East Germany and therefore a symbol of German unity. They sang in favour of "monarchy in Germany" with comic political reasoning and Eurovision harmonies. A less jokey symbol of Germany's unification is the conductor Kurt Masur, who brought his Orchestre National de France for a Beethoven symphony cycle. Other orchestras include the New York Phil under Lorin Maazel (12 September) and the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Riccardo Chailly (14 September). There was Beethoven cello by Sol Gabetta and still to come are cycles of sonatas for violin by Renaud Capuçon (17 September) and string quartets by the Gewandhaus-Quartett (20-27 September). András Schiff performed Beethoven piano sonatas. The violinist Daniel Hope (20, 21 September) will play music composed in Theresienstadt, the "model Jewish town" that turned out to be nothing of the sort, but a staging post to Auschwitz. "Hope plays about hope," says Schmiel, "as that's what music was to many of the inhabitants."The festival is full of puns. In German, the word for note is the same as the word for need. Beethoven once said that all his notes had not rescued him from need but that he wrote notes because he needed to. "What this festival celebrates more than anything is creativity, and we are proud to have premiered 28 new works since 2004," says Schmiel. The final concert on 28 September will stage the world premiere of a new orchestral work by Wolfgang Rihm, one of Germany's most eminent living composers. It is called Verwandlung, or "transformation", which is exactly what has happened to the Beethovenfest. And Bonn. Not to mention Germany.For information on the rest of the Beethovenfest log on to:http://www.beethovenfest.de/

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is rolling out the red carpet for the “Mega-Watt” opening of its blockbuster 2008-2009 season at historic Music Hall on Friday, September 12 and Saturday, September 13 at 8 p.m.

Fresh off a phenomenal season and hugely successful European tour in April that saw sold-outconcerthalls in Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Munich and Amsterdam, Music Director Paavo Jarvi kicks off the new season with works by celebrated composers Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and the return of legendary pianist Andre Watts to the Music Hall stage.According to TheNew YorkTimes, Mr. Watts “can actually make the piano roar, sob, even giggle when the mood so demands. It is an impressive gift.”A post-concert “Afterglow” party will be held in the lobby following both performances.“I am so thrilled to be back in Cincinnati, and I’m very much looking forward to this season,” said CSO Music Director Paavo Jarvi. “We have a fantastic roster of guest artists and conductors joining us throughout the season, and we begin with a program showcasing the tremendous talent of Andre Watts.”The concerts open with Tchaikovsky’s Festival Coronation March, followed by Mr. Watts performing Rachmaninoff’s hugely popular Piano Concerto No. 2, a work celebrated for its soaring melodies, lush orchestration and exceedingly difficult piano part.“I have a very strong weakness for Rachmaninoff’s music. I love the language – I love the sentiment of it. I love the kind of directness and type of beauty that is not suppressed. It is a beauty that just oozes out of you,” said Mr. Jarvi.This exciting concert program closes with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, a work Mr. Jarvi regards as a 20th century masterpiece. Symphonic Dances is the Russian master’s final composition, and ultimately evokes the struggle between death and everlasting life. -- www.cincinnatisymphony.org

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Álvaro S. Teixeira: Which 20th century (not contemporaries) composers are the more interesting for you? And the more important?

Paavo Järvi: There is Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Sibelius. Obviously there are representatives from other countries, such as Debussy, and Ravel. One can name others that have made major contributions to the 20th century repertoire. No two are more influential, for me, than Debussy and Stravinsky. There are two kinds of composers, one who creates new language, and one who creates something new by using the already established vocabulary. Take for example, Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler.But it is the composer who is able to create a new language that brings the music forward in the most influential way. There is no question that composers such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Nielsen, Debussy, are pioneers in this respect.AT: What you search for when you direct contemporary works?PJ: I try keeping an open mind. In today's new music environment, one does not necessarily have to go in searching for one particular style or method of getting a message across. There is no limitation of how to express one's ideas and therefore it is a very good time for New Music. You can go from the traditional approach, to Schoenberg's approach, or one can start from minimalism. There are many varieties of possibilities in the middle, and mutations of these possibilities. Today the new music can start anywhere.What's most important is to keep an open mind when one looks at the score. What I am looking for ultimately is not how the work is put together, but rather what the work is able to communicate in the performance. In other words, I look for what is being communicated and how the work communicates with the listener. I am not interested in intellectual exercise just for the sake of it.

AT: Do you feel that it's a good thing to play the first part a classic or romantic work and in second part a contemporary piece, or the opposite?

PJ: It all depends on a piece and the environment you play the piece in. In general, the opening work is short so one can continue with standard repertoire, which to me is not always ideal. It often diminishes the first piece to an opening fanfare role. On the other hand, in most cities, there is major difficulty programming a completely new piece in the second half, unless there is a good enough reason to keep the audience interested in staying. The current notion is that there is no use putting a new work in the second half if means losing the audience. Again, it ultimately depends on the environment and the work itself.

AT: Some responsible people from festivals and music saisons think that people don't come to concerts if we give for they some contemporary music. It's true, it's just a stupid idea, or can be true in some not developed countries?

PJ: There is some truth to all three that you suggest in your question. In many communities around the world it is difficult to program New Music because of audiences. This is certainly true in the US. In some cities in the US, it is absolutely mandatory to feature a new work, in other cities it is seen as too much of a risk which might translate into decreasing audiences. Ultimately, each city knows their audience and their own traditions. Each needs to be sensitive to the realities they face. Some older audiences fear the new music. Audiences in the 60s and 70s were so frightened of the New Music played at that time that they now distrust new music. We are, in essence, paying for our's parents sins. I notice that right now there is less fear associated with new music. Concert goers now are much more positive towards discovering new. Today the music that we play often gets better response than the standard repertoire because the audience can identify with it. The key is to keep programming New Music that the audience can connect with. In saying that, I don't mean we should program works that aren't difficult, but rather high quality music that challenges the audience.

AT: When you conduct the gesture precision it's the most important?

PJ: It's always important to be clear, but it is obviously not the most important thing about conducting, to be manually clear. The most important part is to be able to communicate through your movements, what the music should sound like. A display of virtuosity, for virtuosity's sake is meaningless.

AT: Before start work with orchestra, how many days you need to know a new orchestral piece?PJ: It all depends on the piece. I always find that learning a piece, especially a completely new work, is just the beginning of the journey. No work can be completely understood before the first orchestra rehearsal; before the score comes to life for the first time, in real time. It is not unusual, even for exceptional composers to change many things in the score after or during the first rehearsal with orchestra. While studying the score is extremely important, it is only the beginning of a longer process.

AT: In your first lecture, alone, what you search?

PJ: I have, over the years, developed an established system of approaching a score. I always start every score with same exact step-by-step approach. It's something that I do with each score, new or old.

AT: It's a good idea to be at same time conductor and composer?

PJ: I think it is a very good idea. It is not absolutely necessary. But composers look at music in a different way than performers do. If the composer happens to take the art of conducting seriously then a conductor/composer combination can be a very powerful one. Conducting is an art and not a hobby. Many composers and soloist turned Conductors forget this. Often, great composers are weak conductors, and perhaps do more damage by conducting their own music than good. This was not the case, of course, with Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss and many other great composers and equally formidable conductors. For example Esa-Pekka Salonen is an excellent conductor and composer. So, if both art forms are treated equally, the combination can be powerful.

AT: Give us 10 contemporary pieces, that you find very interesting, and you think the world needs to know.

PJ: I can give you 200 pieces that people should hear and it still would be meaningless. It is not always helpful to create a gradation of music you should hear. We need to establish a culture that encourages people hear new music. From Northern Europe, I can name many composers whose music should be heard. They are Saariaho, Tüür, Sumera, Salonen, and Lindberg, to name but a few. A similar list could be put together practically from each European country and certainly from the US. I never look a list of top 10 contemporary composers and grade them. I am more piece oriented. If there is a piece that is exceptional, it needs to be heard. It does not necessarily mean that the composer who wrote it is automatically the best. It is important to take things piece-by-piece and see what each has to offer. Only history will tell how correct our judgments were. I don't want to contemplate a ranking because that would be completely pointless.